"No smoking indoors."
Lucas smiled faintly as the Conqueror’s Haki lying dormant within him erupted like a tidal wave.
The deck beneath his feet shattered instantly as the overwhelming pressure surged straight toward Smoker, Hina, and the others.
At the same time, the Tenfold Gravity Training Room, seamlessly integrated into the warship’s interior, flashed a crimson number on its display.
3
The training room immediately activated 3x gravity.
The sudden increase felt as though an immense mountain had been dropped onto everyone’s shoulders.
More importantly, according to the system’s explanation, this Gravity Training Room had been modified to an absurd degree. It could absorb Lucas’s Conqueror’s Haki and amplify it throughout the entire cabin.
In other words, the combination of gravity and Conqueror’s Haki created a terrifying pressure that made everyone inside feel as though Mount Tai itself had crashed down upon them.
Their bodies gave out first.
One after another, they were slammed heavily onto the deck.
The specially reinforced deck of the Marine warship cracked under the tremendous force, spiderweb-like fractures rapidly spreading in every direction.
The five people inside the cabin looked as though they were being crushed by an invisible force, firmly pinned to the deck.
The cigars clenched between Smoker’s teeth and the cigarette in Hina’s mouth had already snapped in half.
Fortunately, they had moved their tongues fast enough.
Otherwise, even their tongues would have become collateral damage.
Faced with the crushing pressure weighing down on them, even Smoker and Hina found it nearly impossible to move, let alone speak.
Meanwhile, wave after wave of Conqueror’s Haki relentlessly battered their minds.
As Lucas would put it—
It was like being trapped beneath the Five Fingers Mountain while listening to Tang Sanzang chant nonstop.
Both body and mind were being mercilessly tortured.
At the same time, the crimson number on the gravity display continued climbing.
The steadily increasing pressure made it feel as though their bodies were about to be crushed into paste.
Even the thick deck beneath them gradually caved in, forming human-shaped depressions.
Their bones creaked and cracked under the unbearable strain.
The crisp snapping sounds echoed across the silent deck, sending chills down everyone’s spine.
Crocodile, Jabra, and the others were completely dumbfounded.
This... was supposed to be a shortcut to awakening Haki?
It looked far more like an execution chamber.
Their instincts told them that if Lucas increased the pressure just a little more...
These Marines gambling with their lives would be flattened into bloody pulp.
"I-I can’t take it anymore!"
Spandam’s eyes rolled back as his body went limp.
Had Jabra and the others not caught him in time, he would have collapsed foaming at the mouth.
Fortunately, their own warship had already moved well away from Lucas’s vessel.
Thanks to Lucas’s precise Nen Manipulation, nearly all of his Conqueror’s Haki had been concentrated inside the cabin, with only a small portion leaking outside.
Otherwise, every Marine aboard the nearby warship would already be lying unconscious on the deck.
Even so, the invisible pressure permeating the air left everyone feeling as though an enormous hand were squeezing their hearts.
Yet at this moment, whether it was CP9 or Crocodile’s group, everyone endured the discomfort and stared fixedly at Lucas.
They desperately wanted to know...
If this apparent shortcut to awakening Haki failed...
What would Lucas do next?
More importantly—
Was this really Conqueror’s Haki?
How could it possibly be this monstrous?
"Still not enough?"
Lucas raised an eyebrow, took another swig of strong liquor, and smiled.
"Looks like you’re still one step away from death."
"I just hope you survive."
Everyone’s scalp went numb.
Was he really planning to push them all the way to death?
Wasn’t this already enough?
Buzz!
The air trembled violently.
The invisible pressure exploded upward once again.
The Gravity Training Room instantly increased from 3x gravity to 5x gravity.
The five people inside were driven straight through the deck, crushing it beneath them.
The moment five agonized screams rang out simultaneously—
Crocodile and the others’ pupils contracted violently.
Their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The shortcut to Haki they had doubted all along...
Actually worked.
Streams of Armament Haki burst from each of the five like floodwaters breaking through a dam, instantly coating their bodies.
Although the Haki was still as thin as mist...
It immediately strengthened their bodies against the crushing pressure.
Seeing this, Lucas secretly breathed a sigh of relief before quickly dispersing both the 5x gravity and the Conqueror’s Haki filling the training room.
As expected—
The old saying was true.
Anything produced by the system was top quality.
Facing death really did dramatically increase the chances of awakening Haki.
Still, Lucas believed that without the Gravity Training Room’s support...
Even crushing someone to death ten times over probably wouldn’t be enough.
According to the system, this was practically an indispensable tool for awakening a powerhouse’s true potential.
As the overwhelming mental pressure and fivefold gravity suddenly vanished, Ain and the others jolted awake from their dazed states.
Ignoring the exhaustion, soreness, and sweat-soaked uniforms covering their bodies...
They stared blankly at the faint layer of Haki still instinctively wrapped around them.
Ain was completely stunned.
"I... I succeeded?"
"I only remember being pinned to the deck and nearly crushed to death."
"Then it felt like my brain exploded..."
"And suddenly a new power burst out from inside me."
"It all happened so... effortlessly."
"So this..."
"This is Haki?"
She muttered to herself in disbelief.
Smoker and the others looked equally bewildered.
The faint Armament Haki coating their bodies proved everything.
Their memories were fragmented.
The only thing they clearly remembered was...
Being pinned to the deck...
Screaming...
And then Haki suddenly burst out.
Thinking back on the entire process...
For some inexplicable reason...
It actually felt rather satisfying.
None of them had ever imagined that awakening Haki could happen so... naturally.
"Crocodile..."
"I thought you said awakening Haki was extremely difficult."
Mr. 1 couldn’t hold himself back any longer as he stared at Smoker and the others.
"They spent less than three minutes..."
"And they awakened Haki."
"If I had the chance..."
"I’d also like to be pinned to the deck until my Haki awakens."
Crocodile and everyone from CP9 wore stiff, dark expressions.
The statement sounded undeniably strange.
Yet...
Watching people awaken the Haki they had struggled to obtain after years of training in less than three minutes...
Who wouldn’t want to be pinned to the deck for that?
If Lucas were to ask right now who wanted to give it a try...
Even Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, would probably find himself raising his hand without hesitation.